


Father to Son

by hypnosandhades



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Gen, Hades is a Good Parent, Nico di Angelo Feels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-23
Updated: 2018-10-23
Packaged: 2019-08-06 06:06:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 928
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16382756
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hypnosandhades/pseuds/hypnosandhades
Summary: Sometimes Hades liked to watch Nico from his palace in the Underworld.





	Father to Son

Sometimes Hades liked to watch Nico from his palace in the Underworld. It wasn’t often, and he tried to keep it to when Persephone was not in the realm, but he liked to check in every now in then with his son and see if he was adjusting and making it within the 21st century. Most of the time it was completely unnecessary: Nico was a good kid and rarely made Hades anxious, but there were a few times that the god remembered well. 

For instance, when Hades lost track of Nico and his sister inside the Lotus Hotel and Casino for 70 years, or when Nico disappeared from Camp Half-Blood during the Titan War and somehow ended up in Daedalus’ Labyrinth with only King Minos for company, or when he wound up in Tartarus and later that damn jar, or even when he shadow-traveled halfway around the world with the statue of Athena with a Roman demigod and a satyr. 

Hades, did however, breathe a little easier when Nico popped up in China after his first shadow-travel from the Labyrinth. And when he was able to track Nico from Pompeii to Portugal, he stopped terrorizing the inhabitants of the Underworld (even though he soon lost Nico after that due to his uglier Roman half trying to take over). Hades liked to think that Nico was an easy individual to place, but oftentimes the demigod managed to disappear from the god. 

And it scared him more than he liked to admit when Nico was in Tartarus, because he could feel Nico’s terror and anguish, but there wasn’t anything that could be done about it. He couldn’t go in and rescue him himself. He couldn’t send Jules-Albert in, in fear that the undead driver would not make it back. No, he had to wait long-sufferingly for Nico to make his way back into the world of the Living. And he could see the aftermath of both Tartarus and the jar in Nico’s body while surviving on Persephone’s pomegranate seeds and drinking the water from the River Phlegethon. 

And it bothered him when Cupid extorted Nico into giving up his biggest secret. Because even though Hades knew (how could he not after being hounded and pestered about Percy this! or Percy that!) it turned Nico back into that antisocial child that Nico had grown out of since the Battle of Manhattan. And Hades didn’t want his child to feel like an outsider. Not ever has he wanted that. 

So when the son of Orcus ended up in the Underworld, after an encounter with Nico, without a voice and a barely-there body, it terrified Hades of what Nico was capable of. Because those powers were his powers, and he never wanted Nico to go down that path. Never wanted Nico to feel that rage and loneliness. Never wanted Nico to feel so helpless that he reaches the point of absolute retribution for another soul. So, he sent what strength he could to the boy so he’d live, and in fact would not need his room to be redecorated in monk skulls. 

But Hades liked to think he didn’t worry that much (although this was a lie that Persephone and Thanatos were more than happy to gossip about together); but not knowing where Nico was, or who he was with managed to make the god worry more than he ever had in his long existence. Partly because he’s the only child of Hades and Maria left, but also because of how badly he treated his son after losing Maria, and then later Bianca. 

So Hades worries. And because he worries, Nico is the only demigod to have a room at the palace in the Underworld while still being a mortal, it’s why Nico is the only demigod to have the ability to come and go from the Underworld whenever he wishes, it’s why Hades allowed Iapetus/Bob to be in charge of janitorial duties in the palace, it’s why Hades gave Jules-Albert to Nico as a chauffeur, it’s why Hades appeared to Nico in Portugal to tell Nico how proud he is of him, and why, overall, he wants Nico to be happy. 

Because it’s always been much easier to find Nico when he’s happy; Nico will be in New York City with his boyfriend by the name of Will Solace (who Hades will annihilate if Nico is no longer happy); sometimes he’ll be at McDonald’s with his friends from Camp Jupiter who visit him often, even if one of them has to be Jason Grace, or Kronos forbid, Percy Jackson; or he’ll be at Camp Half-Blood with Dionysus and Chiron, whom he can threaten loss of immortality if something happens to Nico, or Nico feels like he no longer belongs there. 

And quite frankly, that makes looking out for Nico much easier. Because it allows Hades to feel like a good father. Like, Olympus willing, his brother Poseidon, whose offspring is that awful Jackson boy, seems to be fascinated and truly proud of him, and not like his youngest brother Zeus who forgets which child is his, or like all of his nieces and nephews who have too many children to count and can’t decide which of them is their favorite. 

So, when Hades feels like a good father, the Underworld runs a little more smoothly, Persephone is generally happier to spend time with him, and all of Olympus can breathe a little easier, because if Nico is happy, Hades is happy. Which makes looking after Nico all that much easier.

**Author's Note:**

> There I was innocently reading some Hades & Nico family/gen fics, when this idea popped up out of nowhere. It was just going to be a character study on Hades, and then turned into, well... this. 
> 
> Title is taken from a Queen song of the same name. I hold no ownership of it. 
> 
> This is my first official posted and finished fic, so please go easy on me.


End file.
